Chief Justice David Maraga yesterday challenged the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to crack the whip on errant and corrupt lawyers.
“While the Judiciary is taking the fight against corruption seriously, there is an equally corresponding duty for the LSK to start taking far-reaching punitive measures against advocates who are conduits of their clients in bribing judicial officers and staff,” Justice Maraga said when he presided over his first admissions of fresh advocates at the Supreme Court.
He recalled the President of the LSK, Isaac Okero, had agreed with him that the fight against corruption in the Judiciary and society at large must be fought from all fronts.
“Lawyers must not believe that judicial officers must be bribed or that paying off a magistrate or a judge is the short-cut to winning cases for their clients. In such cases, both the lawyer bribing the judicial officer and the one receiving the bribe are both guilty in the same breath,” the head of the Judiciary said.
The Chief Justice advised the more than 100 new advocates to balance their duty to clients and the administration of justice despite pressures from professional competition and financial difficulties.
Meanwhile, judges and lawyers yesterday paid special tribute to fallen former Chief Justice, Abdul Majid Cockar whom theydescribed as a humble, humourous and great legal mind. Maraga led the formal ceremony at the Supreme Court and unveiled a bust of the late Cockar at the Judiciary Museum.
He sent a message of unity and harmony in the Judiciary in remembrance of the former Chief Justice who served as a judicial officer for 37 years.
The late Cockar, who died aged 93 years, rose through the ranks and was appointed Chief Justice on December 28, 1994. He retired on December 3, 1997 and continued to hold public offices. He was the chairperson of the Salaries Review Commission for Members of Parliament between 2002 and 2003.
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